Improvement of humanlike conversations in humanoid robots

The conversational robot has received considerable attention in the recent research. However, research to date has not sufficiently explored the robot's "sense of conversing," the robot's "existence" and its "sociability." In response to this gap in the research, ERATO ISHIGURO symbiotic human-robot interaction project has launched, in which the project leader Prof. Hiroshi Ishiguro (Osaka Univ.) and his team members have developed a humanoid robot with the ability of a human-like conversation. In this project, we have focused on the affinity process that emerges during the move of the robot with a human. In order to promote an active role of conversational robots, a child-like android named "ibuki" was developed. "ibuki" was designed to be able to walk (move) together with the human by using equipped wheels.